Time for Air? No - A Time for a Challenge.

I tossed and turned so much last night both the bottom sheet AND the mattress cover were rustled off the corners and bundled together in the middle of the bed. At least the mattress itself felt pretty cool. I hate to say it, but it might almost be time to turn on the A/C, symbolizing the end of spring.

WOW! My youngest son, Jim, asked me to proof his English paper last night. I'm very impressed! He's quite the wordsmith. When did this happen? Jim's the guy in the red shirt and Tom's the blue, just like their college colors. And yes, that's a House Divided License plate for the front of my car.

I slept really well last night even though it was so hot, because my house was full again. :^)) It really is nice having them home - even though I won't see either of them much what with their visiting, and working out, and just plain being away.

A friend of mine spoke at an SCBWI conference in New England and offered them a challenge ----to write for 15 minutes every day for 21 days.

THE CHALLENGE Part Deux:

I'm going to change this challenge to one where I spend 15 minutes writing my own stories (not blogs and such) for 21 days.

Can I do it? It will be hard to get into the routine - to train myself to quickly focus on my subject matter and create or edit. Sometimes it takes me 15 minutes just to get back into the swing of the story. But I'm going to try.

15 minutes, how hard can it be?

Somehow, I think it will be very hard.

College Daze

My eldest son is coming home from UNC on Tuesday. I know this isn't a particularly flattering picture of Tom, but I'm expecting to get a lot of these looks this coming summer. This is his first extended time home -- after all the freedom he's enjoyed during the last school year. I guess I should get ready to be suddenly stupid.

His dad is out getting the truck ready by removing the teenage friendly muffler that gives instant headaches to any adult driver, and installing the original, quiet one. Then he'll remove all the seats from my van so we can head to Chapel Hill tomorrow morning and pack up Tom's room while he's taking his last final. He has to vacate the dorm the same day he takes a final? That doesn't seem fair to me. And thus we need to pack for him? I don't seem to recall my parents doing this for me. Or has age affected my memory?

Food Lion will love Tom coming home. Our food expenditures dwindled while he was away, but now they should triple with his hollow legs that never seem to fill.

And the quiet will be shattered with constant noise, confusion, and mess. Talk about mess! I don't think that boy ever picks up after himself. As a friend of mine told me just the other day, there's got to be some rules made for these college kids. Not difficult ones - just simple things like: Put your dirty dishes in the dishwasher. Throw out your own trash. Do your own laundry. Tell me when you're going out - and when we should expect you home. I think that will be the most difficult to follow. It was for me when I was his age.

Oh, but the house will also be filled with sounds of laughter, and music, and whispers, and thumps as the boys wrestle their welcome home into each other. And calls of "Mom, where's my ......." and the occasional yells at each other.

I hope the ceiling holds up. :^))


Is it ready for school to begin again?

2:25 pm and I Need to...

And there's so much to do and I don't want to do it. My desk is piled so high with papers my elbows are way higher than my keyboard and it's difficult to type.

I need to buy gas for the lawn mower and finish cutting the back lawn.

I need to clear my desk off.

I need to run to the grocery to get food and drinks for the youth (before 3 pm today!).

I need to put my laundry away so I can do more laundry.

I need to pay bills.

I need to collect cardboard boxes to bring to UNC to help Tom pack on Tuesday.

I need to think about what to have for dinner.

I need to write.

I need to see my horse.

I need to water my plants

I need to clean my fish tank which I can't do until I order a new part for my cleaner thingie.

I need to clean the cat box.

I need to get the blower working so I can blow the dead leaves and grass off the driveway.

I need to weed my back garden, front garden, by the mail box.

I need to get all the kindling sticks off the back porch to make room for my plants.

I need to get the back porch ready to use.

I need to ...

You get the idea. So instead, I play a game called "avoidance." It's easy to play, just sit and doodle on the computer , or whatever is your fancy, and waste day. I suppose I could even read!

Nope, I'm going to get to my feet, put on my sandals, and wander outside. I guess out of all my "needs," I'll weed. At least I'll get some fresh air and it'll make me bend. Although that's becoming difficult lately. Have you ever experienced pushing your rolls of fat aside so you can bend over to tie your shoe? It's really gross.

I Can't Wait!

Tomorrow is Friday and I can't wait to head to my friend Bonnie's house and write. I need to finish re-visioning of my novel, but at the same time, I'm discovering I need to re-visit my analysis of the protagonist, nemesis' (what's the plural of nemesis?), and antagonist. It's distracting to have all these thoughts collide while I'm trying to only do one task at a time.

Why don't I schedule time to analyze that distinct from my writing time? I don't know. There never seems to be enough time in the day to get everything done. Take today, for example. I finished work at the office around 2 pm then headed home to toss the sheets into the laundry and see if there was anything important that I needed to attend to with regards to my printing business. There wasn't. Yet it is now 4 pm and I've still not put the sheets into the laundry and I didn't have any pressing work issues.

Where has the past 2 hours gone?

Yes, I did pay some bills and transfer money around online.

Yes, I did play 2 games of spider solitaire.

Yes, I followed my son's directions and looked at a video on youtube.com which led me to look at others as well. Oh, I get it. This is where my time went. Hummmmm.

So I leave everyone with this one thought: If you really want to get something done, DO NOT USE your computer! It's way too distracting. HA HA HA

And now it's also too late to see my horse. But definitely tomorrow after I spend a good several hours writing!

Thanks for coming home, Bonnie!!